Mall Security Director Steve Reed said no gunshots were fired during or after the fight. Sacramento police said reports of a shooting or someone with a gun were unfounded. They believe the sounds of large signs falling over may have led people to report shots fired.

Many stores went into lock down closing their metal gates when the incident began.

Security worked well

Witnesses said police and security officers were at the scene of the fight in less than a minute.

"The policeman came up and pulled away the group and then people started running," Miller said.

The mall has 167 cameras constantly monitoring the mall in real-time and security officers can be given radio instructions within moments of an disturbance. There were also at least four Sacramento police officers working off-duty at the mall when the fight broke out.

A number of store employees did their part to try to shield customers from harm.

Store manager Crystal Rocha, with cutegirl.com, locked the front doors of her store, then led frightened shoppers out the back door of the store to the parking lot.

The incident was over so quickly that many responding officers were cancelled before ever reaching the mall.

By 6 p.m. the mall was re-opened to the public and stores lifted their security gates. Reed said the mall had "business as usual" Wednesday night.

Even after it was all over, it was hard for many to catch their breath.

"You just never know what could happen at any time," shopper Nicole Marino said.